Most Important
by Nightengale
Summary: He loves Tess. The difficult bit is that he loves Rusty too. Danny is split two ways and its hard to choose.


"So what did you do after she threw the shoe at you?" Rusty asks with his back against the wall.

"I told her it really hadn't been that long."

Rusty raises an eyebrow and scoffs.

Danny nods in response. "Yeah, well she'd just thrown half the closet at me. I guess I wasn't thinking clearly."

Scoffing Rusty nods. "What did she say?"

"She said maybe next time I should just pick a job that lasts _longer_ than six months."

Rusty purses his lips, quickly checking his watch. "Well, you did tell her it was going to be a long job."

"Long's a relative term."

Rusty just nods again, looking down at his watch once more. They both glance at the empty hall to their right from the corner they are sitting in. No security guards and no Linus yet.

"He's still got ten minutes," Danny says off hand.

Rusty glances at Danny then looks back at the wall. They sit in silence for a moment then Rusty waves a hand in the air lazily and speaks again.

"So what did you say?"

"I said this time it would be different, that she was priority in my life, that I loved her more than anyone."

Rusty turns sharply to look at the side of Danny's head. Danny just sighs and doesn't look at him. Slowly Rusty turns to stare back at the wall.

"Been watching Oprah again?" Rusty remarks.

Danny just snorts.

"What did she say?" Rusty asks softly.

"She said that I love three things and they're all at the same level."

Rusty can't help but laugh a little. It's just like Tess to know everything.

They turn and look at each other, now smiling. Rusty touches two finger tips to Danny's temple just resting there for a moment before quickly brushing back a bit of Danny's hair. The smiles between them soften slowly until Danny looks like he's going to say something more.

Then suddenly both their watches beep and they hear foot steps. Turning to look at the hall they see Linus appear, a thin black box in his hand.

"Ready?" he says and they stand up.

"Let's steal some stuff," Rusty replies with a smirk.

Back at the hotel three hours later, they leave the diamonds with Basher and drop off a half unconscious Linus in his room. Before Rusty can ask Danny about a last drink before they both turn in, Danny's phone beeps and he just about scampers down the hall to answer it. Rusty watches him for a moment then opens the door to his room, slipping inside. He swings the catch to the upper lock around so it's in between the door and the door jam.

Slowly Rusty steps out of his shoes, shoving them against the wall, dropping his watch and key card onto the table. Lazily he pulls off his black shirt, throwing it on the bed. Rummaging through his bag, he finds a worn gray muscle shirt and pulls it over his head. He contemplates a shower but it feels like just too much energy right now. The job is done, they are leaving in the morning, so he has a little time to just rest.

Just as he sits on the couch and turns on the TV the door to his room opens. Rusty glances over and sees Danny walk in. Danny drops his phone next to Rusty's watch on the table then walks over to where Rusty sits and collapses beside him on the couch.

"What did she say?" Rusty asks.

"Well, she mentioned the-"

"Yeah."

"So I brought up the-"

"True."

"But she had a point about-"

"She always does."

They turn and look at each other. In front of them an old episode of "I Love Lucy" plays softly. Rusty wants to say something, to ask more but the way Danny is looking at him makes all the words disappear. Danny looks ever so slightly away, just past Rusty's ear. It's not a good sign and Rusty has to stop himself from tensing up. Danny brings up his one hand and runs it softly through Rusty's hair. It would be a sweet gesture if Rusty didn't know what it has to mean.

"What?" he says.

Danny leans forward and kisses him hard on the lips. Danny kisses in a way that feels horribly final. Leaning back, he looks straight at Rusty again. His hand loosens in Rusty's hair and they separate.

Finally he says, "She told me to choose."

Rusty grits his teeth and looks away. It's not as though they both didn't know it would come sometime.


End file.
